Most food poisoning resolves on its own within one to three days without medical treatment. The single most important thing you can do is replace the fluids and electrolytes you’re losing through vomiting and diarrhea. There’s no pill that cures food poisoning, but the right combination of hydration, rest, and gradual eating will get you through it faster and more safely.
Hydration Is the Real Treatment
Dehydration is the main danger of food poisoning, not the infection itself. Every round of vomiting or diarrhea pulls water, sodium, and potassium out of your body. Replacing those losses is the most effective treatment available.
If you’re vomiting, don’t try to gulp a full glass of water. Sip small amounts of clear liquids: water, broth, or an oral rehydration solution. Take a few sips every few minutes rather than drinking a lot at once, which can trigger more vomiting. As the nausea eases, gradually increase how much you drink.
Oral rehydration solutions (sold as Pedialyte and similar products) work better than plain water because they contain a precise balance of sugar and salts that helps your intestines absorb fluid more efficiently. The World Health Organization’s formula uses roughly a half teaspoon of salt and six teaspoons of sugar per liter of water, along with potassium. If you can’t get to a store, a homemade mix of water, a pinch of salt, and a small amount of sugar is a reasonable substitute. Sports drinks are less ideal because they contain more sugar and less sodium than your body needs, but they’re better than nothing.
What to Eat (and What to Skip)
You may have heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. It’s been a go-to recommendation for decades, but current evidence doesn’t support restricting your diet when you have diarrhea. Research shows that a limited diet does not help treat diarrhea, and most experts no longer recommend fasting or eating only bland foods during a bout of food poisoning.
The practical advice is simpler: eat your normal diet when your appetite returns, even if you still have diarrhea. Your body needs calories and nutrients to recover, and withholding food doesn’t speed things up. That said, certain foods and drinks tend to make symptoms worse while your gut is irritated:
- Caffeine (coffee, tea, some sodas) can stimulate your intestines and worsen diarrhea.
- High-fat foods like fried foods, pizza, and fast food are harder to digest when your gut is inflamed.
- Sugary drinks and fruit juices can pull more water into your intestines, making diarrhea worse.
- Dairy products may be a problem for up to a month or more after food poisoning. The infection can temporarily reduce your ability to digest lactose, the sugar in milk.
For infants and children, the same principle applies. Give them what they normally eat as soon as they’re willing, and continue breastfeeding or formula as usual.
Over-the-Counter Medications
Anti-diarrheal medications like loperamide (Imodium) can reduce the frequency of bathroom trips, but they work by slowing your intestines. In some types of food poisoning, particularly those involving bloody diarrhea or high fever, slowing the gut can trap the bacteria inside longer and make things worse. If your symptoms include blood in your stool or a fever over 102°F, avoid anti-diarrheal medications unless a doctor specifically tells you to take them.
Bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol) can help with nausea and may reduce diarrhea more gently, but it should not be given to children. Anti-diarrheal medications in general are not recommended for children, especially those under two years old.
For pain and fever, acetaminophen (Tylenol) is gentler on an already-irritated stomach than ibuprofen or aspirin.
Do Probiotics Help?
Probiotics are one of the most common recommendations you’ll find online for food poisoning recovery. The logic sounds reasonable: replenish your gut with good bacteria to crowd out the bad. But a major 2020 Cochrane review, which analyzed the best-designed clinical trials on probiotics for infectious diarrhea, found that probiotics probably make little or no difference. In trials with low risk of bias, there was no detectable difference between probiotic and control groups in how many people still had diarrhea after 48 hours. The effect on overall diarrhea duration was uncertain. This held true even for the most-studied strains. Probiotics won’t hurt you, but the evidence doesn’t support relying on them to shorten your illness.
How Long Food Poisoning Lasts
Most cases clear up within one to three days. Some infections, particularly those caused by certain parasites or bacteria, can last a week or longer. The timeline depends on what contaminated your food and how much of it you consumed. Vomiting typically stops within a day, while diarrhea can linger for several days after that.
During this time, rest matters. Your body is fighting off the pathogen and losing fluids simultaneously. Physical activity increases fluid loss through sweat and diverts energy away from your immune response. Staying home, staying hydrated, and sleeping when you can gives your body the best conditions to recover.
Warning Signs That Need Medical Attention
While most food poisoning passes on its own, certain symptoms signal that your body isn’t handling the infection well. Contact a healthcare provider if you experience any of the following:
- Diarrhea with a fever above 102°F
- Diarrhea lasting more than three days with no improvement
- Bloody diarrhea
- Inability to keep any liquids down due to vomiting
- Signs of dehydration: dry mouth and throat, dizziness when standing up, or producing very little urine
Higher Risk Groups
Infants, young children, adults over 50, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems face greater risks from food poisoning. Children, especially infants, are more prone to dehydration because of their smaller body size. They need closer monitoring of fluid intake and output. If a child shows signs of even moderate dehydration, oral rehydration solutions should be started right away. Severe dehydration in a child requires hospital treatment with IV fluids.
Older adults and immunocompromised individuals are more likely to develop bloodstream infections from bacteria that would stay confined to the gut in a healthy adult. For these groups, the threshold for seeking medical care should be lower. If you fall into a higher-risk category and develop food poisoning with fever or bloody stool, it’s worth contacting a provider early rather than waiting to see if symptoms resolve.